The Supreme Court's Theory of the Fund

37 Journal of Corporation Law 771 (2012)

Chicago-Kent College of Law Research Paper No. 2012-16

22 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2012 Last revised: 26 Nov 2012

See all articles by William A. Birdthistle

William A. Birdthistle

Chicago-Kent College of Law - Illinois Institute of Technology

Date Written: November 13, 2012

Abstract

Just as the firm has long served as the foundational molecule of the U.S. capitalist economy, theories of the firm have for more than a century dominated legal and economic discourse. Ever since Ronald Coase published The Nature of the Firm in 1937 and asked why firms should exist in an efficient market, classicists and neoclassicists have competed to develop theories — predominantly managerialist and contractual — that best explain the structure and behavior of business organizations.

The investment fund, by contrast, has languished at the margins of corporate theory, relegated as simply a minor, if somewhat curious, example of the firm. But as the flow of assets into funds has swollen dramatically in recent years, so too has the relevance of the question whether funds are, in fact, best considered a subspecies of the firm or instead ought to be evaluated as independent phenomena.

Part II of this Article discusses the shortcomings of the recent ruling in Janus Capital Group v. First Derivative Traders, taking particular exception with the remarkable formalism of the majority’s reasoning, which appears to ignore or misapprehend the actual operations of mutual funds. If operating companies follow the lead of investment funds and use Janus as a model for immunity against securities litigation, deterrence of financial fraud is likely to drop substantially. Part III considers the potentially deleterious implications of the Court’s fund jurisprudence and predicts that substantial mischief will flow from the decision should its lessons be taken advantage of in other sectors of the economy. Part IV considers the theoretical lens — the theory of the fund — that justices of the Supreme Court appear to use to examine investment funds, and it identifies mistaken assumptions and problems with that lens and its use in the pair of recent rulings in Janus and Jones v. Harris. This Article considers whether alternative theories of the firm might inform a more useful theory of the fund for both the judicial and legislative branches in the future.

Keywords: Supreme Court, mutual fund, investment fund, economics, firm, corporate theory, Janus Capital Group, fund jurisprudence

JEL Classification: K20, K22, G20

Suggested Citation

Birdthistle, William A., The Supreme Court's Theory of the Fund (November 13, 2012). 37 Journal of Corporation Law 771 (2012), Chicago-Kent College of Law Research Paper No. 2012-16, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2175218

William A. Birdthistle (Contact Author)

Chicago-Kent College of Law - Illinois Institute of Technology ( email )

565 W. Adams St.
Chicago, IL 60661-3691
United States

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